Basically phones do not display forums well and are even harder to use to post. The advertising takes up too much space and links are hard to follow (click on) or the last post symbol are hard to use without constantly zooming in and out. Having clean text sized and formatted to fit the screen so that you can easily read it is fantastic.

Really no other benefit but ease of use.

Pete

Thanks Pete

So you are basically saying it is because there are no keys (cursor) that it needs to be altered from the original format, to be easier to use on "keyless" devices ?

I got keys on all my phones (HATE touchscreens), so havent got that problem - thats why I did not know or think about it as an issue...

well I am not sure having keys or not is really the issue. Even if the iPhone had keys the text of forum posts would be too small to read without zooming in and then you would have to keep adjusting the view to continue to read what did not fit on the page. The forum app re formats the post to fit the screen width with letters that are large enough to read without zooming... really that is all it does.... (its like turning on word wrap in "notepad")
For posting it seems to use the messages app format. simple clean, no emoticons etc... 14toeside will be disappointed...

Basically phones do not display forums well and are even harder to use to post. The advertising takes up too much space and links are hard to follow (click on) or the last post symbol are hard to use without constantly zooming in and out. Having clean text sized and formatted to fit the screen so that you can easily read it is fantastic.

Really no other benefit but ease of use.

Pete

but surely that is a matter of adapting. you can better IMO do that by just making sure that people with a smaller viewport get a different layout. If the site did that, all mobile devices would be covered, and Toby would not have to pay for "updates"...which will be needed whenever apple decides they want to change their api. If you are game developing an app is useless. Sorry I do not mean to be negative Toby, but I know so many companies that feel they have to have an app...but what they really need is a clean well made interface that adapts to the device used to view the information...
Make an inferface that is responsive to regular users instead. I would suggest putting your money into developing a good ,modern interface for the forum.

jakemoore wrote:Kiteforum and pther phpbb sites work great on iphone4 without an app. I can't see why I would download something else? What does the app do to make life better for users or admins?

(Posted on my phone in Safari)

Jake

the text of forum posts are too small to read without zooming in and then you would have to keep adjusting the view to continue to read what did not fit on the page. The forum app re formats the post to fit the screen width with letters that are large enough to read without zooming... really that is all it does.... (its like turning on word wrap in "notepad")
For posting it seems to use the messages app format. simple clean, no emoticons etc... 14toeside will be disappointed...

Laughingman wrote:well I am not sure having keys or not is really the issue. Even if the iPhone had keys the text of forum posts would be too small to read without zooming in and then you would have to keep adjusting the view to continue to read what did not fit on the page. The forum app re formats the post to fit the screen width with letters that are large enough to read without zooming... really that is all it does.... (its like turning on word wrap in "notepad")
For posting it seems to use the messages app format. simple clean, no emoticons etc... 14toeside will be disappointed...

Really? I just flip my iphone 4s sideways into landscape mode and don't need to zoom in at all.

I tried the app out, it is ok I guess. I'm just used to reading full websites on my phone, and found the app kind of limiting. I don't have any issues with the text size or typing into the text boxes, most of the time I reply it is from my phone (while I'm at work ).

If you update the forum software (as in phpBB) there are a bunch that include mobile versions built in and also work with apps that already exist for all smartphones.